The Armenians, descendents of a branch of the Indo-Europeans, are originally from a region known as Armenia, which is now northeastern Turkey and the Republic of Armenia. Because of this their language is Indo European. The Armenians have two main churches, the Monophysite Armenian Apostolic Church (Orthodox) and an Armenian Catholic branch of the Roman Catholic Church. The Armenians were also a very artistic culture, expressing themselves through their architecture, in their paintings and sculptures. Until the early 20th century they were an agricultural people.
In the early 1st century B.C. the Armenian King, Tigranes, formed a great empire that stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. This is the greatest Armenian empire that was ever formed, and still it came under control of the Roman Empire before the end of the 1st century B.C. While under Roman control Armenia became a buffer zone for Rome’s battle against the Parthians that ruled over Persia. Then in the 1st century B.C. a treaty between the Romans and the Partians gave control of Armenia to the Parthian, however they had to act in allegiance to Rome. This period of time became known as the Parthian Arsacid Dynasty. The Parthians lost Armenia to the Sassanids in the early 3rd century. The Romans again stepped in and after wrestled for control of Armenia and restored the Aracids to power and crowned Tiridates the third as Armenian King.
In the early 4th century Tiridates converted to Christianity and established a state church. This made Armenia the first state to officially adopt Christianity, predating the conversion of Constantine the Great of the Byzantine Empire. Soon after this Armenia got divided between the Byzantine and the Persian Empire. It stayed like this until early 7th century when Byzantine took over the large eastern section that was ruled by the Persian Empire. However this did not last too long because the Arabs soon conquered Persia and the Byzantine ceded Armenia to them. In 806 the Arabs installed a noble family, the Bagrantuni, as governors of Armenia. Seventy-nine years later Ashot I won independence for his people and Armenia was free. This independence was lost when a resurgent Byzantine Empire took it over from 976 till1071, when the Suljuk Turks brought most of Armenia under Turkish control. Then in the 16th century The Ottoman Empire conquered most of Armenia. In the 1920's Armenia became part of the Soviety Union. On September 21, 1991 the Armenian people voted to become independent and Armenia gained its independence.
References:
http://www.hyeetch.nareg.com.au/
http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/armenia.html
Written By: Joe Gillson